Chemicals & Cancer

Glyphosate has been found in human mothers’ milk in the United States at levels from 760 to 1600 times higher than Europe allows in their drinking water. Milk from dairy cows had even higher levels. Wild grazing animals like elk and deer eat a large amount of foliage where glyphosate, chlorothalonil, and other pesticides are found.

In a study done between 1997-1999, cows and calves were exposed to higher levels of chlorothalonil and Roundup. These calves were slower to mature, had high mortality beginning at birth, they had serious birth defects and health problems.

In 2006, a new salt formulation of Roundup was used on newly planted Roundup Ready alfalfa fields in Ravalli County. This exposed western Montana to even higher levels of glyphosate. In 2007 and for several years after, a poor fawn survival rate was reported with an alarming increase in disrupted development of hearts, blood vessels, and other organs, and underdeveloped facial bones.

Bird populations are declining in remote areas from deadly toxins in the air, rain, and snow. Insects eat foliage contaminated by the toxin and birds then eat the insects. Birds feed on seeds and berries coated with the pollutants. The toxins kill the insects the birds need for food.

In a study published in 2013 on grassland birds, Dr. Pierre Mineau and Melanie Whiteside stated that use of pesticides was a primary cause of the grassland bird decline. The insecticide called neonics are extremely deadly to birds. Just one or two seeds treated with it can kill a bird or affect the birds’ ability to reproduce. Neonics are also a major contributor to the death of billions of honeybees.

During the 90s, mint fields in Ravalli County were sprayed with Terbicil, Bentazone, and Copyralid Herbicides as well as the insecticides Propargite and Acephate. Goats exposed to these mint fields had continuous coughing, they were emaciated, and the males had grown udders, A veterinarian confirmed the mammary development and treated them for chemical exposure. On a side note, interestingly, during this time in the Bitterroot Valley there were many reports of girls and boys ranging from 5 to 8 years old had breast development. Doctors gave boys a shot of androgens so their breasts would return to normal. It's important to know that 2,4-D, picloram, glyphosate, MCPP, Dicamba, and more cancer-causing herbicides are sprayed in acres of fields throughout the U.S. are harming us by damaging our DNA and disrupting our hormones.